Ammeter mounting help

OK, got a new shell, pretty much like the old one, has ammeter hole, notches are exactly in the same place. The ammeter has 4 notches in it for the bezel which has 4 clips, but as you can see the ammeter notches are at about 15 degrees off top center. When I put the bezel on the ammeter, and place it in the shell, the ammeter is turned to the right by about 15 degrees from center. What am I doing wrong? I tried putting it in the original shell and the same thing happens. Is this some Lucas secret? I know when I took it apart many years ago it was straight up.





Dave
69S

Problem solved already. The bezel clips do not go in the ammeter notches. I looked carefully at the ammeter and I could see where the bezel clips were mounted on the ammeter, and when I don't use the meter notches, I can make it work. Waiting for the rubber o-ring from Walridge, and I can put it back together.

Dave
69S

I didn't like the method of mounting by bending the 4 tabs on the ammeter down so I made a collar for it out of PVC pipe scrap. I cut out a thin sliver of the collar so it could be clamped onto the meter with a hose clamp inside the headlight shell. The O-ring on the outside is necessary to keep water out of the headlight shell. I found one at the local hardware store plumbing dep't. A neater job might be to add small screws to the PVC collar to pull the ends together so you wouldn't need the hose clamp.

Yes, those tabs are pretty rink-dink. I may have to resort to something like that especially if the tabs break off from all the bending. I need to do something like that with my warning light, because the hole I made is a bit too big for it to hold itself in. At least it is covered from the outside. The new shell I got didn't have the metal tab inside to hold the harness, I may drill another hole and use a button head socket to hold it.

Dave
69S

Does the rubber o-ring go on the outside or inside of the bezel tabs? If I put the o-ring under the tabs, it is going to squish the o-ring pretty good and I am also worried about breaking off the tabs. My old o-ring was nearly gone, and I can't remember how it went together. Anyone have a close up of how it goes together?

Dave
69S

The o-ring needs to go on the outside of the tabs. I also used some clear RTV (a smear) on the o-ring. (But I didn't bend the tabs on mine as mentioned earlier.) This is the reason I didn't like the tab mounting I guess... Not much engagement of the tabs on the underside of the h/l shell so the vibration kills the ammeter needle pivot as the ammeter is too loose.

Russ

I tried the o-ring on the outside of the tabs, and it made the o-ring bump out by the tabs and I didn't like the look. So I tried it under the tabs, forced the tabs into the slots and bent them over inside which was a real PITA, but I got it, and it looks better than over the tabs. Anyhow it is in, and am going to leave it like that for now. I think it would have worked out better if I had gotten a less thick o-ring, I may look around for one. I got this one from Walridge.



Dave
69S